And All These Bad Dreams
by Ruby Sunrise
Summary: This fanfic focuses on Remy and Ororo’s relationship, and how Ororo is the only one who Remy allows to get close to him. Remy has to deal with his past, so there are some mature themes in the story. Good, but somewhat intense. R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**And All These Bad Dreams**

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or any of the characters, Marvel does.**

_A thick, hairy hand clamped over his mouth, taking him by surprise as he sat in the alleyway eating the scraps he'd managed to pull together for dinner. He tried to scream as he was dragged away to an old, broken-down apartment building, but the man just punched the eight year old in his ribs, causing him to gasp for breath. As he inhaled he could smell the old cigarettes on the man's hands, and the stench of someone who hadn't washed in several weeks. Remy was terrified…even if he got away from this man he had nowhere to run to._

_The man took him up several flights of stairs to apartment 4E. He opened the door and threw him inside, double- locking Remy's only escape behind him. The shades were drawn and empty beer cans littered the floor. There was urine and blood stained into the carpet and it smelled terrible. The little boy's eyes grew wider and wider as he looked around, and he quickly began to scream as the man began unbuckling his pants. As he yelled, the man took off his belt and started beating the little boy with it. "No one will hear you or even care, so you might as well stop shouting!"_

_But Remy didn't stop. "No suh! Please! I don't got not'ing to give! Let Remy go! Please! Please…"_

Remy jerked up in bed, sweating coldly. The dream had returned to haunt him again. No matter how many times he tried to forget, he just couldn't. He couldn't forget how he'd been abused because that man knew that no one cared. How he'd been left to die in the gutter, beaten and bloody and broken. Even dogs had stepped over him as uneven breaths racked his little body. He didn't even remember how he'd been saved from death…sometimes he thought that he'd been denied death so that he might be tortured by having to live with the memories.

He sat hunched, head in his hands. All of a sudden he began twitching, shaking his head back and forth, slowly at first and then violently, trying to remove the images from his brain. But they wouldn't leave. He rolled over, facedown into the pillows and let out an inhuman noise; a heart-wrenching yowl that was muffled by the bed. "Dere's only one t'ing dat can make Remy forget…" With tortured eyes gleaming red, he reached over for his knife resting on the end table.


	2. Chapter 2

**And All These Bad Dreams**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own X-Men or any of the characters, Marvel does.**

Storm sat downstairs in the kitchen making breakfast for herself. She'd waited for a half an hour, reading magazines and watching meaningless morning TV, hoping that her best friend Remy would come down to join her, but he didn't show. She figured that he'd probably slept in and decided to start cooking because she was hungry. If he came down later on, then she'd be happy; and if not, she'd just catch him later in the day. She hadn't seen much of him lately, except the occasional night when he'd come up to sleep with her in her attic apartment. He always said that she had the biggest, most comfortable bed in the whole mansion, and the two enjoyed spending the night together sometimes. Both felt that it was a nice comfort to know that there was always someone in the house who understood you when it seemed like you were all alone. But Storm realized that he hadn't even been up to sleep with her in almost a week. She flipped over her hash browns in the frying pan wondering why that was when all of a sudden he appeared at the doorway. She turned to greet him with a smile but then nearly dropped the spatula in her hand when she saw the deep cuts on his arms. "Morning, Remy." She said quietly.

"Mornin', cheri." He said, brushing his dirty hair back out of his eyes. "Got some breakfast for a friend, too?" He quickly glanced up to see her face and caught her shocked expression. He looked away from her and sat down at the table, glad that everyone else was not in the room to ask him pointed questions.

Ororo finally answered his question. "Sure. I made enough for you and me, just in case you came down. Good thing, huh?" She tried to laugh lightly, but couldn't stop looking at him, searching for his eyes again. He kept them from her. She turned around and finished cooking the hash browns she was making, and grabbed the plate of pancakes she'd been flipping earlier, adding the hash browns to the plate. "Remy," She said softly. He looked up at her briefly. "You want to, um, eat upstairs in the apartment with me?"

Her quiet words pierced Gambit to his inner core, knowing that this time she was asking because she'd seen his fresh scars. "Yes, Stormy. Sounds fine t' me." Without her asking him to, he got the silverware, orange juice and glasses. They'd share the food plate; they always did.

When they ate up in Storm's spacious apartment, both friends were completely silent with each other. Remy was trying to figure out how to explain to Ororo what had happened. He'd told her before about how he used to cut himself, but it had been so long since he'd done it that she'd never experienced it before. And Ororo was trying hard not to stare at the deep flesh wounds that she saw. Purple and red slashes at his wrists, all up his forearms, and even some near his shoulders. She was almost in shock, wondering what could possibly have driven her most trusted friend to do this to himself.

After they were done eating Remy was the first to break the silence. "Dat was great food, Stormy." Storm managed a small smile, but it was directed at her plate, not at him. She didn't want to look up for fear of seeing the cuts again. She thought to herself, _Ororo, pull yourself together, girl. You can face battle with extraterrestrial enemies, but not your own best friend's depression?_ But still she couldn't look at him again.

"'Roro…is you mad at Remy?" He asked quietly.

"No, sweet one." She replied.

"Den…" He trailed off.

"Then what?" She said, pushing her silverware and cup away from her.

"Den why can't you look at him?" He said softer than she'd ever heard him talk before.

Ororo glanced up at her best friend. His dirty hair hung in his eyes as his face was turned down towards his lap. With his hands on his knees he stared at his shoes, wondering if he'd just lost the only real friend he'd ever made. But what could he do? If she couldn't accept the reality of his pain, then maybe he really was alone after all.

After seeing him look so utterly defeated, Storm knew that now Gambit needed her more than ever. She pushed her chair back from the table and walked over to him. "Remy, I don't know what you've been through, but you can tell me if you want." He turned his body towards hers and leaned his head against her stomach as she delicately stroked his hair and caressed the side of his face. "'Roro, dere ain't nothin' more that I've ever wanted to do in all my life." Suddenly the years of pain that he'd been holding back, that he'd never told anyone about, that he'd hidden deep inside of himself came rushing back to his memory all at once and he started to cry. Quietly at first, and then bawling like he would never stop. Ororo dropped to her knees and let him fall onto her. She rocked him back and forth, holding him tightly as his body shook with sobs. As long as he needed, she would cradle him, keeping him safe so that he could cry.


End file.
